


Security Breach

by sororexitium



Series: Peter's Special Power Is Wrapping Tony Around His Tiny Finger [8]
Category: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 18:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/677676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sororexitium/pseuds/sororexitium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy has been watching over Peter ever since, and working for Jane and partially for SHIELD from the comfort and safety of the tower, playing games with Pete when he wants her to and being snarky when Tony or Steve calls to check up on their kid. </p>
<p>It’s been pretty typical.</p>
<p>Until now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Security Breach

**Author's Note:**

> This has been haunting me for a few weeks, so I decided to type it out, because I love when Darcy is a badass.

Darcy is lounging on the couch watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with her favorite little man, when JARVIS breaks into their bonding time. The Avengers are off fighting the latest attack against Hydra and though it should have been a quick takedown since they know where the headquarters are located, it is well into the second day. Darcy has been watching over Peter ever since, and working for Jane and partially for SHIELD from the comfort and safety of the tower, playing games with Pete when he wants her to and being snarky when Tony or Steve calls to check up on their kid.

It’s been pretty typical.

Until now.

“Captain Rogers has initiated a surprise drill. Parameters pertaining to the drill include security breach, thirteen perpetrators total; seven coming in; six scaling the tower. Proceed to designated safety room on the twenty-fourth floor.”

This is not normal, considering a.) Steve never initiates drills and b.) all drills are given to her before they leave. She picks up her Starkphone, settling it in her back pocket and settling the buds into her ears. She doesn’t know how much time she has, but she picks up her go bag and the bag in the hall closet, really more of a storage unit to grab Pete’s bag as well.

“Where are they?” she asks quietly as she picks up a black blanket, with the intent of wrapping Peter up and carrying him like a small duffle in her arms.

JARVIS has already hacked into her phone and he speaks in her ears with that muted electronic worry, “I have shut down primary power. Main elevators are shut down, and card readers to the staircases are disabled. Secondary power is up and running for emergency elevators for the moment. Five perpetrators are on level sixteen; two are stuck between floors seven and eight in an elevator. The six outside are currently scaling between floors thirteen and eighteen.”

Great, so she’s on the fortieth floor trying to go down, while the baddies are crawling up for reasons unknown. She takes a moment to take a deep breath, feel her hammering heart, the nausea in her stomach, the fear coursing through her veins for both herself and her charge, and then she breathes it out.

She thinks to herself, ‘What would Coulson do?’

Coulson would keep his shit together, get everyone to safety and be a total badass while doing so. Easier said than done, but she’s not the same Poli Sci major she used to be before SHIELD. She’s had hand to hand combat training and she’s spent some time on the fire arms range. She may not be your average Hawkeye or Widow; however, she’s still not an iPod-carrying, taze-happy student.

Peter has been watching her since JARVIS intoned the drill and she gives him a large smile, despite how terrified she currently is for their safety and her ability to pull this off. She holds open the blanket, her duffle slung across her chest and his backpack on her shoulders. It’s not going to be a pleasant walk down sixteen floors of stairs. Her body is going to hurt like a bitch tomorrow, but she’s not going to complain, because when Peter comes to her, full of trust and love only a five year old can give, her heart pounds harder with a protective urge.

She wraps him up in the blanket and picks him up, cradling him to her chest and breathing in his ear, “Rule one?”

“Do what y’say.”

She starts toward the emergency elevator located in the small gym set up on this floor for Bruce’s Tai Chi, and Natasha’s ballet, but tonight is too important.

“Good job, bud. Rule two?”

“Be quiet.”

“Yeah,” she looks up at the numbers above the doors, counting one floor, two, three… “Last rule?”

The elevator stops at floor thirty-five, and Darcy feels her heart constricts.

Peter answers, “’ll be safe, no matter what,” just as JARVIS intones, “Secondary power has been intercepted. Proceed to service stairway.”

“That’s right, Pete. I’ll keep you safe and your dads will be here soon.”

She holds him tight to her chest. Her arms already ache and she’s breathing a little heavily, but she won’t drop him. She won’t put him down unless it’s dire consequences and even then she dares someone to try and take him from her sight.

She steps out of the elevator, hitching Peter up further as she follows Jarvis’s instructions so that she can find the service stairs. Peter is quiet against her, his hot, shallow breath against her neck her only indication that he’s keeping with her. His hands clutch her through the blanket and her jacket. She can feel his eyes blinking against her neck, lashes fluttering rapidly as she uses her elbow to open the door to the staircase.

She pushes into the staircase and quickly begins her descent down to the twenty-fourth floor, unsure how much time she has left until the intruders are even with her and she has to fight tooth and nail to keep Pete hidden. She’s not positive what they’re here for, but the tower is known to be empty. It means they’re either here for something the scientists built, probably Tony or Bruce, but since they’re crawling up, Darcy is pretty sure they’re here for Peter.

“The perpetrators have reached level eighteen,” JARVIS says and she grits her teeth before he continues. “They’re in the staircase.”

“How many?” she breathes but she knows Peter hears her. There’s no way he can’t.

“Three, Miss Lewis.”

Three dudes, probably with guns. Shit. “Tell me when they’re within two floors of us,” she tells him, still trying to keep quiet on the off chance Peter isn’t listening.

She makes her way down the stairs, her heart thumping wildly. She expects to run into people in black or see the red light of a scope at any second. She has the thought that if someone sees her and shoots they’re going hit Peter first. She wonders if she should wrap him up like he’s in a net and carry him over her shoulder, but then a voice is in her ear, recognizable even if it isn’t JARVIS.

“Lewis, Iron Man and I are on our way. SHIELD has sent reinforcements,” Natasha says into her ears, sounding calm and deadly, but she can hear the undercurrent of fear. “Do not engage hostiles unless necessary. I repeat, do not engage hostiles.”

“That was my plan, Widow,” she breathes, turning into a door to the thirtieth floor when she hears footsteps coming up the staircase. Doesn’t care that JARVIS hasn’t alerted her to the people, or that they may not even be within two floors of her, but she hears them and she doesn’t want to be caught with a bundle of child in her arms.

“Where’s Peter?” Tony breaks in, his worry more apparent in his tone than it was in Natasha’s.

“He’s with me,” she whispers, moving through cubicles like a maze, glancing around nervously for any people who might be hiding and ninjas who might be scaling the window. She finds a closet large and totally not a panic room but she feels like the intruders are right on top of them and she doesn’t want Peter anywhere near them. She’ll lead them on a merry chase before she lets Peter be taken.

She doesn’t tell anyone that she’s hiding him, unsure if anyone has hacked the communication systems. She takes the buds out of her ear, hoping that Tony and Nat and whatever other Avenger is listening know that they’re not in danger. She sets Peter down on the ground and tries climbing the shelves, glad that this is Tony’s building and is built to withstand the Hulk.

She can’t reach the ceiling and so goes out to the cubicles to pull a chair into the small storage unit, using its added height to push at the tiles. When she has the particle board pushed to the side, she kneels down and holds her hands out for Peter, who comes instantly.

She’s hoisting him, complaining muscles in all, into the empty space when JARVIS says, “Two are on your floor. Three of the scaling perpetrators have entered the twentieth floor. Two have fallen.”

She’s about to ask how they fell, feeling high strung and paranoid, and sure that the fact two of them have fallen from the building is a BAD FUCKING SIGN, when Peter says in a quiet, scared voice, “This’s not a test, isit, Darcy?”

She looks up at where he’s looking down at her from the hole in the ceiling and sees his scared brown eyes staring down at her. She holds up the black blanket, which he takes and covers himself with. “No, little man. This is real stuff,” she admits, having no lie to give him. “But what’s rule three?”

His eyes tear up, visible even in the dark. “’ll be safe.”

“No matter what,” she finishes, grabbing onto the board that will hide him from sight. “Your daddy will be here soon. Just stay quiet and everything will be okay,” she assures him, pulling the board back into place.

She hears a soft hitch of breath, but then it’s silent as she steps off the chair. She pulls her duffle in front of her, holding it like she had been holding Pete with one hand, while her other reattaches the buds into her ear. There’s mass chaos, lots of Avengers yelling in her ear; there’s a fight somewhere, probably where Tony and Natasha are not, but it wouldn’t surprise her if Nat and Tony were already back at the tower.

“JARVIS,” she hisses and the noise cuts out and is replaces by the soothing, determined tones of the AI.

“Yes, Miss Lewis?”

She’s at the door of the closet, the chair dragging behind her. “Are they near where I am?”

“One is near your door. I’m setting the fire alarm.” A blaring siren fills the floor and she can hear rushing outside the door. She listens both for the sound of people running away and to see if Peter is crying too loudly. The only thing that reaches her ears is the sound of people rushing away from the floor; Pete is quiet in the small room. “They’ve left the vicinity.”

Darcy takes a deep breath, looks up to the tile she had pulled back to hide Peter from the world. She then grabs the chair and takes it to where it had originally been. She crawls between cubicles until she’s at the door and her heart feels like it’s going to implode.

“How many are near me?” she asks, and maybe she whimpers but that’s between her and JARVIS, and the AI will never tell her secrets.

“They’re within fifty feet of your location.”

She nods, amping herself up. “Above or below?”

“Above.”

“Awesome,” she breathes and then she stands up, pulls her duffle around to hold it like a child. She opens the door, counts to three with steadying breaths. As soon as she’s shuffles up her courage she takes off down the stairs banging on the walls as she goes, listening to the sound of men chasing her, their yells, curses, and chattering guns.

She doesn’t take stock in it, her mind focused on leading them away from a five year old hidden in the ceiling. They’re gaining on her quickly, trained little ninjas that they are and on the twenty-sixth floor she opens the door. It’s more office space and she quickly takes advantage of it by ducking down into the rows of cubicles, crawling on all fours.

She’s only just reached the center of the floor when the door bursts open. She hides under a desk, her hand over her head, and she feels the need to cry like Peter as not three but five people come storming in.

As she waits, Tony hacks in again. “There’s another person entering the building,” he says. “He’s on your level.”

Darcy closes her eyes, beneath the desk. That was something she didn’t want to hear. “How long till you get here?” she asks as silently as she can without someone hearing her.

“ETA is three minutes,” Natasha answers.

She nods, takes another deep breath. She’s going to run. She’s going to draw as much attention to herself as she can. She’s going to make them call for reinforcements. She wants them away from Peter and she has the power to do so.

She’s gearing up when she hears a silenced gunshot, the first grunt of pain and the thud of a body hitting the ground. There’s an agent coming closer to her; she can see his boots coming closer to her. She flashes her hand out and grabs his ankle, yanking with all of her force. Her arm will her like hell tomorrow but at least she has the bastard down on the ground.

She leaps out from under the desk, quick as she possibly can; straddling the agent’s hips and punching his face until he isn’t anywhere close to conscious. She’s about to crawl off him to find another hiding place when she feels the muzzle of a gun placed to the base of her skull.

Closing her eyes, she’s ready to settle her fears, ready to give her life for a little boy, ready to die for the sake of a family that she calls her own.

There’s another gunshot, quiet but there, a silencer on a pistol. She braces for the pain, for the fading feeling of her life leaving her, for the cruelty of failure stinging her spine.

What she gets is a cry of pain and the sound of a body falling behind her.

There’s another gunshot and then there’s the sound of heavy footsteps coming to the cubicle she’s hiding under. She prepares herself to be taken and give nothing away but her name and social security number.

A cold hand grabs her by her bicep and she goes without a fight, holding her eyes shut as she’s pulled from beneath the desk.

“Open your eyes,” a strange new voice says. When she doesn’t, the hand gives her a quick shake, demanding with a slight accent, “Open. Your. Eyes.”

She opens her eyes, not sure what she expects, but it isn’t to see the hard face of a young man, eyes dark in the electrical outage, and one hand…one electronic hand around her arm.

“Darcy,” Natasha soothes into her ear, “We’re almost there. Has the backup arrived?”

“Is it the creepy dude with way too much metal?” she croaks.

She actually hears Natasha’s breath of relief. “That would be my Winter Soldier.”

Darcy dares to look up to his eyes, seeing the multicolored haze of his eyes in the dark floor. She stands in front of him, scared to death, even with Natasha’s reassurance.

“Where’s the boy?” he growls, his metal hand tightening around her arm, but she doesn’t flinch, not sure about this guy until Tony and Nat get here.

“Hidden.”

He loosens his hand on her and nods. “Good.”

The guy, Natasha’s Winter Soldier, and she will have to pester her about that later, gives her a surprisingly gentle tug, escorting her out of the cubicles, back to the stairwell. There are two unconscious bodies that she can see lying prone against the steps but he leads her around them with the sure efficiency of a man who’s seen a lot of bodies in such a state. He still has his gun out and though it’s by his side, he looks ready to aim and fire without thought.

She feels her heart fluttering as he takes her into the twenty-third floor, doing a sweep of the room. He leads her far away from the windows, staring out across the rooftops like they’re keeping secrets from him and that is a huge offence. Then there’s a streak of light.

Tony’s back.

She doesn’t know precisely what’s happening but the lights go on suddenly a few minutes later and JARVIS intones, “Security has been reestablished.”

She literally sags against the wall in relief; her hand going to her heart to make sure it’s still beating despite the fact that she can feel it pounding in her throat. She starts shaking, the aftermath of an adrenaline rush suddenly flooding out of her. She takes a second to let herself fall apart and then with all the strength she can muster, she builds herself back up.

She pushes a hand through her hair and then makes the way to the elevator.

“I wouldn’t try that,” the dude who saved her ass says. “Two of ‘em are still in there and I think Black Widow wants a word with them.”

“Right,” Darcy replies robotically, she suddenly notices the waver in her voice. “Stairs. I’ll take the stairs. I’ve gotta…go. Check on Peter.”

“Yeah,” he says gruffly. “Tell Natasha I’ll be around. And hey,” he calls, making her turn around at the door. He gives her a brief nod of his head. “You did good.”

She feels a trembling smile spread on her face. “Once you see two gods fight…right?” She pushes open the door and then turns back to him. “Thanks, dude…for everything.”

He waves her off with his metal hand. “Don’t mention it.”

She nods and exits the floor, taking the stairs two at a time, skirting the bodies still lying on the ground. When she reaches the thirtieth floor she bursts in ready to run to Peter’s hiding spot, but he’s already out.

Tony has his son held tightly in his arms, his Iron Man suit tucked neatly into the form of a suitcase beside him.  His back is to her, but she can see the way he shakes as well, how his head is turned into Peter’s, kissing his hair and muttering soothing words into his ear. Peter’s face is tucked into his neck, his hands clutching at his dad’s shirt.

She doesn’t envy the nightmares they’ll have.


End file.
